Race leader Kristijan Durasek survived a huge scare in the Tour of Turkey when he punctured with 3km to go, luckily saving the jersey due to the 3km rule. His teammate Sacha Modolo showed good form to stay with the best on the late climb but failed to mix it up in the sprint.

"I didn’t wait. I stopped at that moment. I wouldn’t have been able to do 200m more, because the bike was weaving from left to right. It happened right at the 3km marker.  If you look at the video, I was with my team-mates, weaving from side to side," Durasek said.

"It is always nice to win, always nice to wear the jersey,  for me and the team. It’s good for all of us. My last win was two years ago in Italy [Ed.:  2013, Tre Valli Varesine (1.HC)], a one day race."

Durasek chose not to follow Davide Rebellin when he attacked on the final climb.

"The group was still big. there were 40 or 50 of us at the top of the climb, so I wasn’t worried. I knew it wasn’t a dangerous move. There was still a long way to go, it was windy, and so on…  It wasn’t an easy run in to the finish."

"Today we did everything that we planned in the morning," sports director Bruno Vicino said. "The boys have given everything to maintain Durasek's leadership. In the final of the stage there was a climb on which we feared there could be attacks by the riders just behind Kristijan, and so it was. We were calm and united and managed to tackle the attacks.

"Sacha was prominent, working for the team. I saw a great spirit to sacrifice himself for his captain. In spite of everything hw also tried to sprint against the pure sprinters. I am happy with how we went today and I hope that Modolo will be rewarded for his generosity with another great result tomorrow."